Draft regulator



March 20, l945- c. A. cRooKER i 2.371,67?

DRFT REGULATOR 'Filed May 27, 1943 ment and provide 'abearing surface.

` sembly work. i i

Patented Mar. 20, 1945 'U'NITE'DTATES 'PATENT FFI'CEJ f 1 pnAFrRnGUL'roRt `(Lilarertech.Crooker, Marikato`,`Minn.`

` Application May'zv, 1948, fserii'noiesss'zc mi `12 ciaims, ;7(01, ass-45) o This invention relates to draftjcontrol devices. i

`In mi' prior'PatentNumber 212523125; granted August' 12,'1941, Idisclosed a beari'ng construction for 'the pivot means fora 'valvein 'adraft control device. This pivot element included a U- 'shaped piece ofmetal bolted Vor otherwise se-` cured to the rim of 'the draft controldevice with 0 an `-aperture through one leg of'the U -shaped piece toreceive the pivot pin, the other jleg being solid i to'restrain the pinagainst longitudinal move- 1one oftne objects 'of the presentinventionis to provide pivot means for the valvefmember in thedraft'control device whei'ein the `be'aring member A further object ofthe invention is to greatly i simplify the construction of a draftregulator by reducing the number of parts to a minimum namely a rim, avalve, and a pivot member for the valve. i i l l These and other objectsand advantages of the i invention Will more fully appear from thefollowing description made in connection with the accompanying drawing,wherein like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout theviewsy` and, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a fiue with a lateral branchsection and my regulator thereon, a portion of the branch being brokenaway and the regulator being shown in section with an alternate positionof the valve in dotted lines; i p

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a regulator mounted on a fiue;

Fg. 3 is a top view of the regulator showing it mounted ona shortsection of pipe; i

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a modified form of the deviceiand o iFig. 5 is a side view thereof. w

In the drawing there is shown a Vertical fiue section 6 having avshortT` section 1 extending outwardly therefrom.` The outer end of the Tsection 1 is provided with an outwardly directed fiange 8. i o i Theregulatoriincludes a rim 9 which is annuiar ana fiat with a.reienveiyiaree centri opening. At spaced points aboutthe rim tongues w'HI are'struck fromthe ``metal of the rim and as j showntheir freeendsare directed radialjly in-` i D wardly to the center of the rim 9.It's'hould further be noted thatthe tongues lll extendgoutwardly fromthe main body of the rim'at a rather abrupt angle i and thence'radiallyinwarclly,`` i spaced relation to the back of the rim so that'the ""fmain body of the rim will lie Vagainst the surface o of the short pipesection, and the inner or the' o free `ends of the tongues will liebehind the flange` W 8. `The rim is thereby supported 'on the fiange 8`and slidably Arotatable thereon. Due ``to the fact T5 that the rim.` 9is fiat andU made of' sheet metal H it can be sprung slightly sothatithe tongues 110 i canbe slipped behind the flange 8 on'fthe'shortpipe section T. This affords an extremelysimple v and e'conomical meansfor rotatably mounting a `regulatorrim 'on a flanged piece'of smokej'pipe.``

Preferably located above the horizontal center line of the rim 9 is apairof tongues and |2. Similar tongues are disposed on the opposite side`of the rim as best shown in Eigs. 2 and 3. 'Their 2W tongues |2 areprovided with tapered apertures |3 to receive the ends of a pivot rod orpin 14,

The rod |4 extends through the tongues |2 and is of a lengthapproximately .the same as the distance betweenthe inner faces of theouter tongues I I. The ends of the rod |4 are preferably pointed asshown in Fig. 3 so that there is little frictional contact between therod |4 and the tongues ll. Friction is reduced also by'the tapering ;ofthe apertures l3 in the tongues l2 and there is no pocket or othercollectingplace for soot'and dirt which might interfere with propermovement of the pivot rod |4 in the bearing tongues ll and |2,

A valve member l5 is positioned` in the aperture lprovided by the rim 9,and said valve mem- 40 ber, as shown in Fig. 2, is preferably ofslightly` extends` through the tongues IB and is securedv to saidtongueIG by soldering, welding or other suitable means; Thus the valve member[5 is held in position by the rod |4 and is permitted `to swing withsaid rod to close or"partially open the aperture defined by the rim 9.'

In order to give the valve 15 a greater range of swinging movement Iprovide cut-outs H in the valve member |5 so that said valve will not soquickly strike against the inner edge of the rim 9. However, after acertain degree of swing the` provide a limit stop for the valve.

While I have shown the cut-outs vl'l in the valvemember 15 they could,of course, be conveniently made in the rim 9 with the same function andeffect.

In order to prevent the lower portion of the valve |5 from swingingoutwardly I provide a stop in the form of a tongue IB which is struckfrom d ,thelower portion of the rim 9 and bent outwardly 'and upwardlyagainst the face of the rim and inwardly beyond the inner edge of therim' to lie in the path of movement of the lower portion of the valvel5.

It will be seen from the foregoing that I have provided a draftregulator made up of three parts,

a rim, a pivot pin, and a valve element. The rim includes' integralmeans for rotatably positioning the regulator onithe end of a short pipesection or T so thatit canV be twisted to various positions to alter.thel effective weight of the pivot valve. Said'rim also includesintegrally formed bearing members for the pivot pin or rod and itVfurther 'includes an integrally formed stop member to limit swingingmovement of the valve in one direction.` The pivot'pin is supported bythe integrally formed bearing elements and it in turn is connected tothe valve'to support it for swing- Vifng movement. The structure is sogreatly simplified that it can be manufactured at extremely .10W costand its few separate parts make' the matter of assembly extremely easy.p

' in'Figs. 4 and 5 there is shown a slightly modified form of theinvention, the difference lying in the arrangement of'the pivot member.In that 'formy it is shown to be a generally V-shaped element l9 whichis welded or otherwise suitably secured to the valve member |5 and whichhas outwardly bent arm portions which extend through the bearing member|2 as in the case of I edges of the cut-outs ll will engage the rim 9 tothe straight rod 14 in Figs. l through 3. The V- shaped pivot member |9is ofiset as at 2| since the lower portion is fiat against the valve ISand the upper portion'must be set out to coincide with the apertures intongues l2. This construction provides more weight in the lower portionof the valve than in the case of the device shown in F'igs. 1 through 3since there is a considerable portion of the pivotl member I9 below thepivotal axis of theuvalve. The remaining features of the device,however, are the same as those shown in the first embodiment.

While I have shown two forms of the invention it will, of course, beunderstood that various changes may be made in the form, arrangement,details and proportions of the various parts without departing from thescope of my invention.

WhatI claim is:V

16 A draft regulator comprising, a pipe section having an outwardlydirected flange thereon, an annular rim having tongues strucktherefromat spaced points vto provide pipe fiange engaging means, said rim alsohaving apertured tongues .struck therefrom to provide bearing elements,a

pivot p pin in the apertures of said bearing elements, stopmeansadjacent said bearing elements to limit -axial movement of said pivotpin, and a valve member swingably'supported in said rim by said pivotpin.VI i o 2. A draft regulator comprising, a rim, aligned oppositelydisposed pairs of said tongues struck from and extending at right anglesto the plane' of said rim, the innermost of each pair of tongues havingan apertureptherein, pivot means extending through saidV vaperturedtongues, the outermost of said tongues restraining said pivot meansagainst outward endwise movement, and a 'valve member mounted on saidpivot means within said rimfor swinging movement relative to said rim.

` CLARENCE A. CROOKER.

